---
title: "Background steps"
slug: "background-steps"
updated: 2026-07-29T14:01:42Z
published: 2026-07-29T14:01:42Z
canonical: "help.quickbase.com/background-steps"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.quickbase.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Background steps

Some steps in Pipelines take longer to complete—like copying thousands of records, generating a CSV, or waiting for an AI response. These are called Background steps (formerly Async steps).

When your pipeline reaches a background step:

1. Pipelines starts the work and runs it in the background
2. The pipeline pauses while the work completes
3. Once finished, the pipeline automatically resumes

From your pipeline's perspective, this is still a single step.

## What to expect

Background steps behave differently from other steps:

- They can take time—from seconds to hours
- They run in the background—you can leave and come back later
- They resume automatically—no manual intervention required
- They may retry automatically if something interrupts the process

## Activity log behavior

Background steps appear in the Activity log while they run, but are displayed with slight delay:

- You may see the step making progress
- After the step has completed all logs and details are available

## Step count and billing

Background steps count as one step run. Even if a step takes a long time or retries multiple times, it is still counted as a single step. This ensures you're only counted for the work you started, not the internal processing needed to complete it.

## List of background steps

| Step | Channel | Why it's a background step |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Copy Records | Quickbase | Can copy thousands of records which may take time |
| Export CSV | Quickbase, Snowflake | Streaming large exports takes time |
| Import CSV | Quickbase, Snowflake | Bulk imports take time |
| Download CSV | Bucket | Generating a file takes time |
| Pause | Clock | Deliberately waits for a set amount of time |
| Custom Action | AI Actions | Waits on an AI model to respond |